Assignment: What factors must be assessed when critically appraising quantitative studies NUR 590
NUR 590 Week 3 DQs
Week 3 DQ 2 What factors must be assessed when critically appraising quantitative studies (e.g., validity, reliability, and applicability)? Which is the most important? Why?
Many practicing health educators do not feel they possess the skills necessary to critically appraise quantitative research. This publication is designed to help provide practicing health educators with basic tools helpful to facilitate a better understanding of quantitative research. This article describes the major components—title, introduction, methods, analyses, results and discussion sections—of quantitative research. Readers will be introduced to information on the various types of study designs and seven key questions health educators can use to facilitate the appraisal process. Upon reading, health educators will be in a better position to determine whether research studies are well designed and executed.
Assignment: What factors must be assessed when critically appraising quantitative studies NUR 590
Click here to ORDER NOW FOR AN ORIGINAL PAPER ON Assignment: What factors must be assessed when critically appraising quantitative studies NUR 590
Practicing health educators often find themselves with little time to read published research in great detail. Some health educators with limited time to read scientific papers may get frustrated as they get bogged down trying to understand research terminology, methods, and approaches. The purpose of appraising a scientific publication is to assess whether the study’s research questions (hypotheses), methods and results (findings) are sufficiently valid to produce useful information (Fowkes and Fulton, 1991; Donnelly, 2004; Greenhalgh and Taylor, 1997; Johnson and Onwuegbuze, 2004; Greenhalgh, 1997; Yin, 2003; and Hennekens and Buring, 1987). Having the ability to deconstruct and reconstruct scientific publications is a critical skill in a results-oriented environment linked to increasing demands and expectations for improved program outcomes and strong justifications to program focus and direction.
Health educators do must not solely rely on the opinions of researchers, but, rather, increase their confidence in their own abilities to discern the quality of published scientific research. Health educators with little experience reading and appraising scientific publications, may find this task less difficult if they: 1) become more familiar with the key components of a research publication, and 2) utilize questions presented in this article to critically appraise the strengths and weaknesses of published research.